Willey earns England call for Australia trip

Jim Lyon

Northamptonshire all-rounded David Willey has been named in the England Performance Programme (EPP) squad for this winter.

It is recognition for a remarkable season’s work by the 23-year-old which has seen him play a prominent role in the County’s Friends Life t20 success and their push for LV= County Championship promotion.

The EPP will spend a period training at the National Cricket Performance Centre in Loughborough followed by a month in Australia during this winter’s Ashes series.

They will be based in Brisbane for a fortnight followed by two weeks in Perth.

National selector Geoff Miller said: “The England Performance Programme provides an excellent opportunity for those players identified as having considerable talent to train together in an England environment throughout the winter and further develop as cricketers and this is an exciting young squad who have impressed in domestic cricket recently.

“The time spent at the National Cricket Performance Centre in Loughborough and Australia allows our coaches to work intensively with the players and assess their readiness to graduate to the full England side when the opportunity arises.

“Gary Ballance, Boyd Rankin and Ben Stokes have all come through the EPP in recent years and have put in strong performances for their counties and England teams to earn an opportunity to step into the Test environment.”

The announcement was made on the day England named their squad to tour Australia this winter.

Former Northamptonshire spinners Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar have both been included while there were also calls for Gary Ballance, Michael Carberry, Ben Stokes and Boyd Rankin to join the squad that performed in the Ashes’ winning side this summer.